What is Unaccompanied Minor?

Unaccompanied Minor is a science fiction / fantasy serial.

What is it about?

David is thirteen. He's on his way to see his grandparents in Bent Fork, a one-horse community in northern British Columbia. David is ambivalent about the trip. He's expecting little more than a week of cheek pinching from Nana's neighbours. Yet, his brothers both made the same trip when they turned thirteen. And they seemed to have come back... well, different.

Upon his arrival, he receives a package in the mail. It's marked only with his name, followed by the words "Bent Fork." He doesn't recognize the language nor the currency of the postage stamps.

David is about to discover there is much more than he had imagined to Bent Fork, its residents and his own history.

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Read from the beginning:

I.

Unaccompanied Minor
A Face in the Window
The instant David set foot aboard the Greyhound bus, he knew. The eleven hours ahead would not be pleasant. A subtle pulse had already developed behind his left eye. If he struck back now, perhaps he could reduce the inevitable pain. The bus was nearly empty. David shuffled along the darkened aisle and found a pair of empty seats near the back. He scooted…
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II.

Unaccompanied Minor
The Ferryman
The Ferryman swigged back his coffee. At the far end of the wooden table where he sat, a seagull coveted his battered fish and fries. David knew this had to be the Ferryman. Once the bus had reached its destination, only five passengers had remained. Each of these five now had a place. Three shuffled about the dock, arms folded or hands in pockets. David…
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III.

Unaccompanied Minor
Bent Fork
[Image by vonpics from Pixabay] Any visitor to Bent Fork would immediately notice the cats. David and Grandad were sitting at an outdoor table of Mrs. Vargas’s Tea Shoppe. A tabby nudged David’s ankle. Nearby, a sleek grey and white creature mooched vittles from another patron. You couldn’t walk down Main Street without meeting a…
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IV.

Unaccompanied Minor
The Librarian
“Who’s there?” David flinched when he heard a shrill voice fill the sacred space of silence. This was the Bent Fork Public Library. Once you stepped inside, you felt you mustn’t utter a sound beyond a voiceless whisper. The Library was housed within one room. But it was impossible to tell once inside how big that room was. Ceiling-high book shelves forme…
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V.

Unaccompanied Minor
Sharon's Side Quest
Sharon gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Who was this girl with the blank expression? And was that another blackhead? Dang! She had just spent hours on a bus, then a ferry to arrive at this backwoods town. Now, all she could think of was a hot shower…
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VI.

Unaccompanied Minor
What Happened With The Whiffle
It’s worth mentioning here an incident which had occurred before David’s visit to the library. This was during the short time that he had been alone in his room in the cottage. For David, a migraine was a production in three acts. First came the aura, with its visual hallucinations and sense of impending doom. Then came the pain. Both of these he had alr…
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VII.

Unaccompanied Minor
Within The Whiffle
David’s drenched t-shirt clung to his torso, sucking the heat out through the skin on his back. Shivering, he drew the already damp towel around his shoulders. A pool of water grew about his bare feet. David’s swimming trunks were still dripping wet…
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VIII.

Unaccompanied Minor
What David Found at the End of the Hallway
“Sit down, young man!” David had opened the door fully and was standing in the glow of fluorescent lighting. Ahead, five rows of desks faced him. They each held a youth about David’s age. One of the front desks was empty. It was a classroom. A young woman stood before the class. She had just turned to face David. She placed a sheet of paper on the empty sc…
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IX.

Unaccompanied Minor
What Sharon Found at the End of the Hallway
Sharon eyed the page in her hand. She furrowed her brow and took a sip from a can of iced tea. How was she to make sense of the irregular markings on this page? Before her were five rows of five desks each. The classroom was full, save two of the seats up front. What was she supposed to be teaching them again…
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X.

Unaccompanied Minor
Return to the Library
The Librarian had emptied out the two top drawers of his desk and was now working on a larger file drawer. On the floor, next to the desk, a growing mass had developed, comprising what David guessed to be beyond typical library appurtenances. Among the mass of dog-eared papers, pens and tea bags, David identified a Rubik’s Cube and a chipped coffee mug…
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XI.

Unaccompanied Minor
What Sharon and David Discovered in the Schoolyard
“It’s like hypnosis,” Sharon said. David sighed. “You’re trying to explain something you don’t understand in terms of something else you don’t understand.” “Okay. Maybe.” Sharon kicked the ground with her heel. She and David were each sitting on a swing at the school yard. It was a cloudless morning. A flock of waxwings chased itself in the distance, abov…
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XII.

Unaccompanied Minor
An Alcove Among the Stacks
“Hello. You're both back, aren't you?" The Librarian said this as he snapped his fingers repeatedly in Sharon's and David's faces. They each blinked. Sharon gasped, as if she had just surfaced from a long dive. “This whole place is a freakin' mind game!” she announced…
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XIII.

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A sci-fi/fantasy serial

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